It's Time for You to Get to Know Letitia James

If you're like me, on the night of Monday, May 7, you may have settled down in front of social media to watch celebrities arrive at the Met Gala one by one. All the night's glamour and and style-gazing was interrupted with an entirely different kind of New York gossip: Four women alleged that the state's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, had abused them during their romantic relationships. Within hours, the disgraced politician had resigned.

He was replaced by the first female attorney general of New York, Barbara Underwood, but Underwood does not plan to run for the office this November. The frontrunner? Letitia James, who currently serves as Public Advocate in New York City, the second-highest elected office in the city.

It's James's job to mediate between citizens and their government. Examples of her work as public advocate include a push for NYPD officers to wear body cameras and supporting tenants rights via a Worst Landlords list. Still reeling from the Schneiderman news, she sat down with Cosmo to explain why she's aiming to take his place.

Oh, and "Hamilton" creator and Pulitzer-winning genius Lin-Manuel Miranda dropped by in the middle. We allowed it.

Where were you last Monday night?

I was at an event. As I left, it was on Twitter and I saw the article and my jaw dropped. I was shocked. Because Eric Schneiderman was a champion for women. He was being propelled by the #MeToo movement. He was defending our rights, he was a hero of mine, and he was fighting back against an administration that was hostile to all.

And then I went to dinner with some friends and I heard that the governor basically stated that he should resign and soon after he did resign. And then all of a sudden, my phone just blew up. It was non-stop.

What was everyone saying?

"Run, Tish, run!"

What was your first reaction?

There's a statistic that says at least six or seven individuals have to ask a woman whether she would consider running for office before she'll say yes. When they first asked me I said "No, no, no, no, no. I'm concentrating on running for mayor!" Then they said "No, this is who you are. This is better suited to you. You should consider it."

Why did they think it was better suited for you?

Because of my background and my work as a public defender — my work going up against great odds, my work standing up for my constituents against a special interest, my work as former assistant attorney general on consumer fraud, protecting civil rights of individuals as part of the stop-and-frisk investigation, and then my work in the public advocate's office on protecting the rights of tenants, and standing up for women. All of that together created this momentum, that said "Run, Tish, run."

Where'd you start?

I spoke to county chairmen across the state, a number of elected officials who basically said "We like this idea. We think you should be appointed." But that didn’t feel right. We decided to participate in the electoral process, and so we called delegates and we called leaders in 62 counties because the convention was around the corner. That's what we've been working on 24/7.

Who else has voiced their support?

Last night I went to get pizza around the corner and the guys on the corner were yelling out my name. They were coming out of the bars yelling out my name, everyone in restaurants. It was really overwhelming. And at the pizza place, my go-to is Luigi's Pizza on Grand Avenue [in Clinton Hill].

What's your order?

Just a regular slice and I don’t eat it with a fork. Luigi said, with that Italian gesture, "What are you going to do kid? Everyone loves you around here, you gotta run."

Have you heard from the mayor?

I've spoken to some of his surrogates; I've yet to schedule a meeting with the mayor. But I have spoken to the governor. We had lunch this week. The governor wanted to know my thoughts, and whether or not my heart was in it. I told him yes. He said he had not yet made a decision at that point in time, he just wanted to talk to me. He'd heard I was interested and he would get back to me as to whether he would be supporting my candidacy. I suspect that he will be supportive. [Editor's note: Governor Andrew Cuomo endorsed her after this interview, on May 22.]

Will you continue Schneiderman's fight against our president on certain issues?

Sure. We will be joining the coalition. We will be joining with other attorneys general across this country standing up against the federal government [on issues] that would erode the rights of marginalized and underserved communities.

You've talked about fighting for marginalized New Yorkers. What fires you up most?

One, people are losing their homes. The values of their homes are decreasing. This was their entree to the middle class and that dream is becoming a nightmare. It's happening all over the state.

Two, the opioid crisis, [with] individuals who are caught up in this disease that is destroying families and causing deaths of young people. It's a major issue across the state, so we've got to look at the pharmaceutical industry and those individuals who proffer off of illegal drugs and an industry which is not being carefully regulated.

I also want to stand up for tenants who are being harassed and victimized by unscrupulous landlords.

And we want to be judicious in our effort to protect investor rights and carefully analyze, scrutinize, the use of the Martin Act [a 1920s-era law that empowers the New York attorney general to fight financial fraud.]

Where do you fall on marijuana?

I support legalization of marijuana. The enforcement of marijuana has resulted in disparate treatment and incarceration. There are too many black and Latino young men who unfortunately are trapped in the criminal justice system for relatively small amounts of marijuana. The use of marijuana along racial lines is pretty much equal but the enforcement of marijuana laws has been inherently unfair. We could take the resources generated by the legalization of marijuana and invest in communities that have been ravaged by this disparate treatment and unequal enforcement of law.

Being a woman doesn't make you a good or bad candidate for attorney general, but there are a lot of people out there who would love to see a woman in this role. How does that resonate for you?

Given the events of the last few days and historically, I think the ground is shifting and the time is right for a woman to serve as the next attorney general for the state of New York. Women bring certain talents to the political arena. When I negotiate bills with women, we're able to check our egos at the door. And I'm confident that a female attorney general will address gender wage disparity, the feminization of poverty, the children who are struggling — issues that are often overlooked. We have done just that in the public advocate office, and we can carry that to the office of attorney general.

Of course. He's absolutely amazing. I understand he's working on another piece. I'm trying to get a preview!

Reports seem to indicate a rise in hate crimes, in crimes with racist, anti-Semitic, or anti- LGBTQ sentiments. Have you seen that?

Yesterday, there was an attorney who was castigating individuals for speaking Spanish in a restaurant in Manhattan. It's incidents like that that get me charged. We're seeing more and more hate crimes against the Jewish community, more crimes against the African-American community, more hate crimes against immigrants, more hate crimes against those people, the other. We want to send a message that it will not be tolerated in the state of New York.

What do you do to gear up when you need to get your fight on?

I go inside to my quiet space. I find comfort in my quiet moments and I also find comfort in my church. I spoke to my aunt today who is 90 something years old– she doesn’t want me to [tell] you her age – but she's 90-something. She just traveled from the Bronx to Virginia by herself. I checked on her to make sure she got there okay. She's a former teacher and she's a fighter and she's very independent. And she has a fierce sense of right and wrong. She inspires me always. I said was everything okay and she said if it wasn't I would be on the phone calling someone. She's just a character but she doesn't suffer fools easy and is not one to remain quiet.

When you announced you said, “I will take on special interests who seek to destroy our families and our communities,” what special interests are you referring to?

It was primarily a reference to challenges coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There are forces out there that who basically do not believe that the American dream should be expanded to immigrants. They want to close borders and our doors to certain countries because they do not represent what they think America should look like. That offends me to my core, as it does most Americans and most New Yorkers.

How do you fortify yourself for a fight like that?

I look in the eyes of New Yorkers I meet on the streets, in subways and stores, and you can see the weight of the world on their face. You can see that they have challenges they struggle with. They just need a champion to tell their story, to stand up against powerful interests who would seek to ignore them and dismiss them.

Was teenage Tish like this?

Yeah, because teenage Tish had a lot of brothers. She was always a fighter.

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